Our Lethal Dependence on Oil

The U.S. Navy, the largest single consumer of diesel fuel in the world, is taking steps to prepare for an alternative-energy future - and it must increase these efforts to stay at the vanguard in the coming century.

On your drive to base today you stopped at the gas station and noticed the price of regular unleaded had increased by 2 cents a gallon. You sighed, realizing it would cost an extra 40 cents to fill up. Meanwhile, in the time it took to fill your 20-gallon tank, the Navy consumed 33,000 gallons of fuel. In the same ten minutes, the Department of Defense (DOD) consumed more than 100,000 gallons, and the United States came 5.7 million gallons closer to depleting a finite resource that plays dual roles as both cause and effect for the modern Navy, the U.S. military, and the world as a whole.

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Lieutenant (junior grade) Marsh graduated first in his class from the United States Naval Academy in 2007. He earned a Master of Science from the University of Maryland and flies the P-3C Orion in VP-4.

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